Clearwire Launches 4G WiMAX Network in Silicon Valley

laut · on Sept 15, 2009

"Developers can expect to see peak download speeds of up to 10 Mbps, with average download speeds of 3 to 6 Mbps. In contrast, some of today’s 3G wireless networks typically deliver download speeds of between 600 kbps – 1.4 Mbps."

Funny that their planned 4G is slower than 3G in Denmark today (I've seen 16Mbit 3G advertised). 7.2Mbit has been common for years.

mikedouglas · on Sept 15, 2009

Does anyone really consider WiMAX to be 4G, except for Sprint? Most American carriers have bet on LTE, which has a theoretical max of ~170 Mbps.

Whether Verizon and AT&T can keep their deployment schedule (2013 and 2011, respectively), is another question, but at least they were smart enough to avoid the band-aid that is WiMAX.

mmt · on Sept 16, 2009

I've only ever considered the ordinal-G terms to be marketing fluff.

Even WiMAX is technically inspecific, though I think it's always the mobile version (even if used in a non-mobile implementation), in this context.

I, of course, care about actual speed, not marketing "generation" nor advertised speed.

johnnybgoode · on Sept 15, 2009

The developer network, which is a precursor to commercial service planned for the San Francisco Bay Area in 2010, will cover more than 20 square miles in Santa Clara, Mountain View and parts of downtown Palo Alto, California.